Brokie’s Way – A memoir from 1984-86 London Study Center Director David Brokensha

David Brokensha recalls his time with EAP as two of the most pleasant years of his career. Along with his life companion Bernard Riley, they lived in a flat in Kennington and traveled extensively around the UK visiting students and partners. The EAP office at the time was located in the colorful Strutton Ground and managed by the long-time administrator Anne-Marie Shawe and Associate Director Ron Mellor. The annual Thanksgiving dinner that year was held at the historic Middle Temple Hall and according to the venue staff, who hesitated allowing student group use the facility, our UC students were better behaved than their British counterparts!

David was born in South Africa in 1923. As a young soldier in WW2 he was a prisoner of war in Africa, Italy and Germany. After the war he studied anthropology at Rhodes University College, Cambridge and Oxford and was a professor at the University of Ghana and UC Berkeley. He ultimately became the chair of the Anthropology department at UC Santa Barbara where he spent twenty three years and retired in 1989. He was there during the turbulent Vietnam protests and the 1969 oil spill. A direct result of the disaster was the establishment of the Environmental Studies department where both David and Bernard were longtime lecturers. David retired to London and eventually returned home to South Africa in 1999 where he lives today. His memoir is a wonderful story of love and work in Africa, the USA and the UK. To read more about David and his extraordinary life, click here.